Saros Cowasjee

Saros Dara Cowasjee (12 July 1931 – 8 December 2019) was an Indian-born Canadian novelist, short story writer, commentator, critic, anthologist, and screenwriter, as well as a professor emeritus at University of Regina.

Early life and education Cowasjee was born in Secunderabad, India on 12 July 1931, to Dara and Meher Cowasjee. He had a sister and a brother. He earned a B.A. from St. John's College, Agra in 1951. He completed a M.A. from Agra College in 1955. In 1960, Cowasjee completed a Ph.D. from University of Leeds. He researched Seán O'Casey under the supervision of G. Wilson Knight.

Career Cowasjee was an editor for two years with the Times of India Press in Bombay (now renamed Mumbai). In 1963, he joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus as an instructor of English. In 1971, he became a full-time professor. Upon retirement in 1995, Cowasjee became professor emeritus.

Cowasjee said "…I am a Canadian citizen, though my I sell much better in the U.K. and India than I do in Canada…. Perhaps my work lacks Canadian content and sensibility. Also, to be noticed in Canada one has to be an aggressive salesman, as aggressive as a Jehovah's Witness, and as prepared to take insults and get the door shut in one's face."

Personal life and death Cowasjee was Parsi, a Zoroastrian community in India. Cowasjee resided in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Selected works

As author Sean O'Casey, the Man Behind the Plays (1963); O'Casey (1966); Mulk Raj Anand: Coolie : an assessment (1976); Nude therapy (1978); The last of the maharajas: A screen play based on Mulk Raj Anand's Private life of an Indian Prince (1980);

Introductions Private Life of an Indian Prince by Mulk Raj Anand (1970); The Trilogy comprising The Village, Across the Black Waters and The Sword and the Sickle by Mulk Raj Anand (2016).